CAIRO, Sept 10, (Agencies): Egypt was on a state of alert on Saturday after protesters stormed the Israeli embassy, prompting the ambassador to flee, in the first attack of its kind since the two nations made peace 32 years ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the mob attack a “serious incident” and an unnamed official warned it was a “painful blow to peace” between Egypt and the Jewish state.
Egypt vowed on Saturday to try those behind the violence that drove Israel to evacuate its ambassador from Cairo, heaping pressure on army rulers to respond to public fury against the Jewish state while fending off US criticism.
Washington, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, urged Cairo to protect the mission after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Israeli flag from the windows of the building.
Three people were killed and 1,049 wounded in the clashes that began on Friday and raged on into the early hours of Saturday around the Cairo tower block housing the embassy, the Health Ministry said. Police and soldiers had fired shots in the air and teargas to disperse the crowd, who hurled stones at them.
Egypt’s army, under pressure to give power to civilians after taking over from toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak, must balance public calls for a more assertive policy towards Israel with maintaining ties that bring it cash and top-notch US hardware.
“Egypt witnessed a harsh day that inflicted pain and worry on all Egyptians. It is clear that the behaviour of some threatens the Egyptian revolution,” Information Minister Osama Hassan Heikal said in a televised statement.
Egypt would transfer those in custody or “involved in inciting or participating in (Friday’s) events to the emergency state security court,” the minister said, adding that Cairo would use emergency laws still in place to protect the nation.
Protesters lit tyres in the street and at least two vehicles were set alight near the embassy. Many had come from a demonstration earlier on Friday in central Cairo calling for the army to end emergency law and speed up other reforms.
“Our dignity has been restored,” said Mohi Alaa, 24, a protester near the site of the overnight clashes. Bits of concrete and bullet casings were strewn over the street.
“We don’t want the Americans’ money,” he said, showing the greater readiness of many Egyptians to express resentment of Israel and the United States and anger at Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, after decades of pragmatic official relations.
Some 500 protesters stayed after dawn and a few threw stones at police, who gradually pushed them away and secured the area around the embassy, located on the upper floors of a residential block overlooking the Nile.
It was the second big eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month when Israel repelled cross-border raiders it said were Palestinians. Egypt then briefly threatened to withdraw its envoy to Israel.
Israel has stopped short of apologising, saying it is still investigating the Egyptian deaths, which occurred during an operation against gunmen who had killed eight Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a statement at 1730 GMT on Saturday about the Cairo violence, his office said.
Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, staff and family members arrived home on Saturday, but one diplomat stayed in Egypt to maintain the embassy, an Israeli official said.
The information minister’s statement followed a crisis meeting between Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and other ministers as well as talks with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the military council that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak resigned on Feb 11.
State television said the military council rejected Sharaf’s offer to resign.
Feud
Israel is finding itself increasingly at odds with formerly sympathetic states in the region. It is already embroiled in a feud with Turkey, once the closest of its few Muslim allies, over its treatment of the Palestinians.
Egypt’s ties with Israel, though never warm, were a pillar of Mubarak’s foreign policy and buttressed his claim to be a regional mediator. Mubarak regularly met Israeli officials.
Under Mubarak, Egyptians could never show such hostility to Israel without a crushing security response. That has changed. Police came down hard but could not contain the anger.
US President Barack Obama called on Egypt to “honour its international obligations” and protect the Israeli mission. He told Israel’s Netanyahu that Washington was taking steps to resolve the situation.
Egypt is committed to “fully respect all its international obligations regarding protecting and safeguarding international diplomatic missions on its soil,” the state MENA news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr as saying.
An Israeli official said the ambassador, staff and family members had left in one plane and a second one had brought home six Israeli security personnel who had been left guarding the embassy, protected from the crowd only by a reinforced door until Egyptian troops extracted them.
“The fact that Egyptian authorities ultimately acted with determination is laudable. With that said, Egypt cannot let slide this harsh blow to the fabric of relations with Israel and the gross violation of international norms,” Netanyahu said in a statement. He also thanked Washington for its role.
British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the embassy attack and urged Egypt to protect diplomatic property.
Some Egyptian politicians and activists criticised the violence, even if they backed the anti-Israel demonstration.
Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a “serious stance matching the public anger” towards Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt’s uprising.
Last month, a man scaled the embassy building, took down Israel’s flag and replaced it with Egypt’s. Protests continued daily but did not turn violent until the latest flare-up.
In response to the protests, the authorities had erected a wall around the building, which was quickly defaced with anti-Israel slogans and then painted in Egypt’s national colours.
On Friday, the wall was torn down after a demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square calling for speedier reforms and a deeper purge of officials who worked for Mubarak, the former president on trial on charges including conspiring to kill protesters.
Reaction
Western countries Saturday condemned an assault by protesters on the Israeli embassy in Egypt that prompted the ambassador to flee and called on Cairo to protect the mission.
“I strongly condemn the attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement released by his office.
“We have urged the Egyptian authorities to meet their responsibilities under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomatic property and personnel, including the Israeli embassy in Cairo.
“They have reassured us that they take these very seriously.”
Six embassy staff had to be plucked to safety by Egyptian commandos after protesters stormed the building late on Friday, an unnamed Israeli official said.
Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, other staff and dependants all left Egypt but a senior diplomat remained behind, he said.
The embassy attack was the worst since Israel established its mission in Egypt after becoming the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state in 1979.
Cameron urged Egypt, whose long-time president Hosni Mubarak was forced out of power in February by a revolt, to respect the accord.
“The Egyptian authorities have previously said that they will uphold Egypt’s international agreements including its peace treaty with Israel,” said the prime minister.
“We welcome this and look to Egypt to honour this commitment.”
The Spanish foreign ministry said Madrid “expresses its strongest condemnation of the attack suffered by the Israeli embassy in Cairo ... at the hands of groups of protesters,” while noting that the Egyptian authorities tried to stop it.
“Spain expresses its desire that Egypt and Israel overcome this crisis as soon as possible, given that the fluid relations between the two countries, founded on the 1979 peace accord, is one of the pillars of security in the Middle East,” it added.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called on young Egyptians not to give in to “violence and terror” after the peaceful demonstrations that led to Mubarak’s ouster.
The reports from Egypt “are a very worrying signal that violence is prevailing over democratic opposition,” he wrote on his blog.
They are also “a great disappointment for all those who hailed and still hail the Arab Spring as a decisive passage towards the reign of freedom.”
He warned that young Egyptians risk losing the world’s sympathy and would end up with the same tyranny they had opposed.
US President Barack Obama late Friday expressed “great concern” over the incident in a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials said.
He called on Egypt “to honour its international obligations to safeguard the security of the Israeli embassy.”